


trying something different

by EmmaLuLuChu



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alien Blood, Don't fucking mess w Shiro's team, Langst, Late Night Conversations, Lion Magic, Major character death - Freeform, Matt and Shiro are gay for each other, Mild Blood, Mild Gore, Multi, Mutual Pining, Pre-Kerberos Mission, Season/Series 02 Spoilers, Self-Insert, Shiro and Pidge bromance, Shiro has always been a chaotic good, Space Uncle Coran (Voltron), The Graphic Depictions of Violence only applies to the last chapter, Undertale AU, VLD Writing Challenge Week 2017, What else is new, childcare au, i am weak to Shiro, projecting onto your faves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-20
Updated: 2017-02-26
Packaged: 2018-09-25 22:18:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9848846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmmaLuLuChu/pseuds/EmmaLuLuChu
Summary: a collection of prompts from the VLD Writing Challenge Week (so what if i made it i can write for it too hahahah)tags will update as i upload





	1. write for a character you struggle with

**Author's Note:**

> Everybody always has that one character they can write easy as pie, and the one that makes you want to pull your hair out and give up on fanfiction. Shake things up a bit and try writing for a character you either hesitate to write for or want to get better at writing for! The content can be whatever you want as long as you’re challenging yourself with a character you don’t normally write with.

“Matt. . . Maaaaatt. . . _Matthew!_ ”

Matt Holt quickly grabbed the pillow out from under his head and flung it around, smirking in satisfaction as he heard a resulting cry of surprise along with a _whump_ of face meeting a cotton blend fabric.

He shifted back around to face where the sprawled out form of Shiro (the unfortunately hot asshole he got roomed with) lay on the ground, clutching the pillow that attacked him and rubbing at his nose with a pout, and shot him a glare.

“I told you not to use my full name, and why the ever-loving _fuck_ are you trying to wake me up at-“ he squinted heavily to make out the time that blinked on his phone that he somehow was still holding despite his previous unconscious state, “-jesus fuck _three a.m._?”

Matt groaned and rubbed at his eyes, slowly resigning himself to whatever was going to happen, he sucked at going immediately going back to sleep so now he was up for the time being. He sat up, folding his legs up beneath him and resting a chin on his hand as Shiro sat up on his knees and lightly tossed the pillow back at him.

“I know Matt but listen-“

“Shiro I swear to god if this is because the moon looks pretty or some dumb shit-“

“No! Look!”

They were both fortunate to have a dorm with a window, most of the barracks were on the inside of the building and plenty cadets jokingly printed off their own personal windows, and Shiro quickly ran up to it, and opened the curtains with a flourish. Matt blinked as he saw delicate white flakes drift by, and shrugged.

“Okay, snow, I’ve seen that before, it’s fine. I don’t know if it’s watching-at-three-a.m. fine though.”

Shiro sighed, turning to his roommate and sending him a forlorn look.

“I know but, it just reminded me of this one time back home.”

Matt had to stop himself from accidentally screeching because holy fuck Shiro _never_ talked about his home life, sure he’d gab on for days about space and school and whatever, but home was a sacred subject to him and he’d never opened up about it. Matt unconsciously leaned in closer as Shiro glanced back out the window, and resumed where he had stopped,

“It never really snowed a lot back in my home state, we got ice and stuff but actual snow was rare. There was this one time in middle school, like maybe 7th grade, where out of nowhere this _huge_ storm came through. It was a perfect snowfall, school immediately got canceled even though it was like ten at night, and I stayed up until almost four a.m. just being excited and would step outside every once in a while to see the snow fall.”

His voice had wandered off as he finished, and Matt could imagine the sad glaze over his brown eyes as he stared out the chilled windowpane. The scrawnier of the two sighed, hand fumbling around for his glasses before shoving them onto his face, and stood from his bed and tossed the pillow down.

“Alright, lets gear up.”

You could hear the slow whirr of a computer calculating as Shiro sat there for a moment before turning to look back over his shoulder, genuine surprise on his face.

“Wait, what?”

Matt shot him a look, the one he saved specifically for Shiro full of exasperation and a hint of genuine care, walking over to his personal closet and opening it to grab the puffy winter coat his mom had forced him to bring and began to dig around for a beanie and gloves.

“Gear up. We’re gonna go stare at the three a.m. snow.”

Once he finished he turned back around, and had to bite off a squeak when he saw Shiro’s body fully facing him, a gentle smile gracing his face,

“You’re really gonna do that? For me?”

Matt swallowed and nodded, trying to keep down his need to holler something stupid like _quit staring at me with them big ol eyes_ or _can we kiss_ , but the feelings quickly dropped as Shiro ruined it,

“Matthew that’s actually really-“

He quickly crossed the room and shoved a finger into one of Shiro’s perfect cheeks, fixing a glare on him,

“No. You already said it once, and twice is way more than needed. You have to use the other one.”

The future pilot heaved a sigh, but made Matt smile in victory as he dead-panned,

“Yes, _Memethew_.”

Matt nodded and used the poking finger to instead gently flick at his nose, moving over to lay his winter bundle set onto the bed and start working them on.

“Good. Suit up nerd, we’re gonna go catch snowflakes on our tongues and do dumb couple shit like make snow angels.”

For a moment Matt panicked, unsure if the last part of his sentence sounded like he was joking enough, but smiled when Shiro laughed and moved to go grab his own winter gear.

They nearly got caught but it would’ve been worth it to peacefully watch the snow fall by the light of a lamp post and shove snow down Shiro’s coat and almost maybe kiss again.


	2. write something you want to happen in s3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that s2 has been out for about a month, obviously s3 theories have formed! Kaltenecker becoming the new Black Paladin or how Matt is faring with the rebels have got to be my favorites. Pick out one you like and flesh it out a bit, doesn’t matter if it’s ridiculous or plausible or just straight up crack, put a bit of work into it and see where it goes!

Something was up with their leader.

Vargas had barely passed when everybody immediately picked up on Shiro not quite acting like he used to, after he’d come crashing from the Black Lion’s cockpit. Right off the bat there was noticeable things, the sharp look to his eyes, the way his legs trembled so bad Hunk had to carry him and Shiro had said something about six legs, and had noticeably fallen asleep far easier than before _and_ without a fight.

But those concerns had taken a back seat as they had to rush back into saving planets and alien races. The leg trembles had stopped, the sleep benefited Shiro, and the eyes became commonplace.

As things calmed down though, slowly everybody began to notices signs of the concerns they’d had before.

The first sign was that Shiro gotten a lot more touchy-feely for some reason. Before he had been content to simply be standing nearby, within arm’s reach of people, and would generally accept hugs more than give them. Now he _had_ to be within an inch of any one person, or have a hand out to touch them (shoulder, arm, hand, anything he could reach) at almost all times. Nobody had really minded until he started to pull people towards him in the recreational room and make them sit either by his side or practically in his lap. What stood out was the fact that Shiro himself didn't seem confused like they were about it, wouldn't take the hints that the others gave when the touches became just a bit uncomfortably close and frequent, especially when he began to tangle fingers in hair and try to smooth out knots and ruffles. Eventually they chalked it up to whatever had happened when he had disappeared, figured that maybe there was more trauma he'd undergone that he refused to talk about, but needed comfort and didn't know how to properly ask about it.

The second sign was his slow descent into becoming non-verbal. Shiro wasn't a chatty person to begin with, but talked when it was appropriate or he needed to give information, and enjoyed just regular conversation. Then, as time went on, he slowly started to go quiet. He began to only speak when spoken to, and never started a conversation unless it had to do with a mission. Eventually, he went even quitter than that sometimes, some days he would only respond with nods and shakes and looks. When asked directly why he wasn't talking as much, he would only raise an eyebrow and shrug, looking at them as if he had always never talked so what was the big deal?

If that hadn't been obvious enough of something being off, it was made clear when they all got captured during one mission. It was a team of bounty hunters that had captured them all, intent on bargaining with the Galra for the five paladins’ lives and their Lions, and had gotten cocky as they prepared for a wormhole jump.

The ship was just barely big enough to hold all the Lions in its hangar and it was plenty crowded on the control deck, the paladins just barely had elbow room from their holding place along the wall.

Shiro's eyes had been almost glowing, a calculating stare roving over the team of hunters as they snickered and prodded at the cuffed and incapacitated team, a plan slowly forming within his piercing gaze, and one could almost see a tail behind him, twitching in preparation as if to jump.

One of the hunters grabbed Lance by the throat suddenly, easily lifting him and smirking as the Blue Paladin choked and kicked at the air.

Immediately Shiro had stilled, eyes wide as he stared at the hunter, and he _growled_.

Only the Voltron team seemed to hear it, all of them turning and staring at their leader (even Lance had tried to turn his head in the grip around his throat), but the hunters were unaware, and the leader of the bounty team decided then that they were all too loud and swiftly prodded Hunk with an alien taser device, making him arch and cry out as he was shocked.

Everything went to _utter chaos_ for the next few moments, the only definite moments were Lance yelping as he got dropped and Shiro not being in the spot he'd been forced to sit in. Once they'd gathered themselves, nobody had been prepared for the scene before them.

A near massacre lay before them; one bounty hunter lay gasping by their feet as green, goopy blood poured from the gaping hole in his throat and the missing chunk dangling just by a flap of skin, another hunter was speared through the chest by the same taser that had shocked Hunk sticking out of the wall with feet still twitching, the other few members were crumpled bodies on the floor with more of that green ooze surrounding them.

The cocky leader now lay frantic on the floor, utter fear across his face as two hands firmly held his head in an iron grip. Shiro sat on the hunter’s back, straddling his shaking body, and even though his bangs covered his face a bright, golden glow shined from his eyes that nobody could miss as his voiced echoed across the eerily quiet space in an ethereal voice he’d never used before,

“ _Never touch my Paladins **again**_.”

With a jerk and a sickening _crack_ the horror faded from the alien’s face, going blank as they fell to the floor with a dull _thud_.

Everybody held their breath, afraid to move or make another sound, watching as their leader hovered above the dead body to make sure they were gone, taking in his strong stance and green stained armor and the blood that still dripped from around his mouth and the gold glow of his eyes suddenly began to fade back to the familiar brown they all knew.

Shiro’s chest moved with each breath, almost gasping for air as if he’d been suffocating, his body slightly trembled as he pushed himself up, carefully stepping by his handiwork as his eyes focused on them.

“Are you all okay?”

His voice was scratchy from limited use and maybe from any alien flesh he could’ve accidentally swallowed, but if the past few minutes had been erased from their memories and Shiro cleaned of the blood, it was as if he was acting normal.

But he wasn’t. Shiro was no longer solely his own person.

He was something different.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks so much to Demenior for letting me play around with their VERY fun s3 what-if, Shiro and the Black Lion having a mind and body meld due to whatever happens to Shiro at the end of season 2! find the full thing here: http://demenior.tumblr.com/post/156435206264/bosstoaster-demenior-demenior-maybe-when it is SUCH good read.
> 
> may or may not do a bit more with this on the free day.....


	3. write for an AU you’ve wanted to do

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The wonderful term that is AU; Alternate Universe. From coffee shops to ‘what if’ scenarios to swapping roles the possibilities are endless! Admit it, there’s one you’ve wanted to do, now’s the chance! Pick your favorite AU or one you want to see done and write it! Or even pick one that has been done! As long as it’s an AU you’re good to go.

It was barely nine in the morning and things had already gone to shit, and of all things on a field trip day. It would’ve been fine either way but this just so happened to be the first one in which Pidge was finally a group leader and could have her own team of kids to cart around. This was just the perfect opportunity for disaster to happen though.

The day had started off with one of their kids nearly punching another kid and Shiro having to talk with them as the room got cleared, then they got a slew of people who didn’t realize that they had to bring lunches for their kids and had to rush and grab some before the bus arrived at 8:30 am, which wound up being all for nothing because the clock had just hit nine and there was no bus in sight.

Allura had managed to stretch out the usual talk they had before field trips; where they were going, what the schedule would be, the rules and how the kids should act, and answered every little question the kids asked (even when they took a full minute to respond because they forgot) but when it devolved into asking to use the bathroom it ended there and made a call to use facilities before they left. Which was a long half hour ago.

By the time it’d hit the twenty minute mark Shiro and Allura were frantically calling the central office and told them all to start doing time fillers to distract until the bus pulled in, but Pidge was getting tired of Lance doing a meme-themed Trivia game and wished they’d do something else.

“How’re things going in here?”

Pidge blinked and turned around, spotting Shiro in the doorway and shrugging.

“Lance is riling the fifth graders up with memes again, so. . .”

Shiro rolled his eyes and Pidge couldn’t have felt more in tune with somebody. She glanced back out the window again, still seeing the empty bus circle.

“Any word about the bus?”

Shiro shrugged too, stepping inside to stand next to her, crossing his arms and looking out at the group of kids and raising an eyebrow as it looked like Lance was going into a final round with two fifth graders.

“Central said they left on time, but apparently they got the wrong school address so who knows when they’ll come.”

Pidge groaned, deciding to finally throw the backpack she’d stubbornly held onto in the case the bus arrived down, falling down into an open seat.

“That’s _so lame._ Why this time? I was actually excited about it!”

The plan had been to go see a movie with a couple other schools (the school Matt worked at was going to be in the same theater with them and she had planned to be a bad example and throw popcorn at him) then lunch at a park and they’d finish by going to a roller skate rink. It was a field trip they commonly did but when Pidge had been a student worker she hadn’t been allowed to tag along, and of course now that she could every possible thing had to go wrong. It was probably not good to show her frustration like this in front of her boss, but he’d practically become another older brother and when you’re sitting for hours at a desk together you magically wind up loosening your filter.

Shiro frowned down at her, more out of sorrow than anything else, eyes turning back across the room, but then his eyes lit up in a way that meant he was going to cause a little ruckus.

Thankfully the meme Trivia had ended, Lance had snagged their prize box and was letting the bouncy sing song boy named Steven who won pick out a toy, his eyes near sparkling when he found a ring that had a fake gemstone on it. He pranced back over to his friend showing it off, Lance turning his eyes onto Hunk and Keith, who’d resigned themselves to sitting or talking with the younger kids who had a five minute attention span.

“Alright one of you guys go, I think I actually gave myself a headache trying to come up with questions.”

Hunk hummed as a Kindergartener laid against his body, the child patting a hand on his stomach like it was a pillow,

“I could do one of those nursery rhyme things, I just can’t think of any these kids would know.”

Keith furrowed his eyebrows in thought, hands moving together as if he was squashing something together,

“The baby bumblebee one?”

Hunk shook his head, gently asking the kid to go sit by themselves and then responding,

“That could take a bit for the little ones to learn, maybe the shark rhyme.” Then he frowned “No wait that has hand motions too.”

Lance nodded, bringing his hands so they were flat together and making them lightly slap together, like a baby shark eating fish.

“Yeah, it’d take some time. I’m pulling a blank too on easy ones.”

Shiro chose then to walk over, a wide grin on his face.

“I have an idea.”

Pidge had followed close behind and was able to catch the looks of confusion on everyone’s faces before it morphed to other emotions. Lance was trying to contain his giggles, Hunk looked like he was accepting certain death, and Keith had gone full-on horrified.

“No, oh god no, Shiro there’s like, _fifty kids_ and we’re _not_ on a bus! You can’t, please don’t-“

“Don’t what?”

They all seemed to finally recognize Pidge standing there, Keith quickly grabbing her by the shoulders and squeezing them in a tight grip.

“Ignore him, just ignore Shiro, maybe he won’t do it if we just look away-“

But Shiro had already left, walking towards the front of the group of kids, and quickly calling their attention. All of the kids instantly listened, it was hard to miss Shiro’s loud Teacher Voice, eyes on him as he smiled and spoke in an even, normal tone,

“Repeat after me.”

Some of the fourth and fifth graders gasped and started to cheer, quickly going quiet when Shiro simply pressed a finger to his lips, smirking as he slowly started to walk around the edge of the group.

“You can’t ride in my little red wagon.”

The group of kids eagerly responded back, mirroring the same tone Shiro had used. Pidge glanced over to see Keith half collapsed onto the table he was sitting at, fingers twined into his hair as he muttered for it to please be over.

“Front seat’s broken and the axel’s draggin’.”

The room filled again with fifty voices, Pidge now noticing that Lance was following along too, having sat down at the insistence of some first graders who immediately grabbed at his arms,

“Click clack click clack clang.”

Pidge was still in awe at how Hunk looked ready to ascend to heaven, nearly jumping when she heard a voice that wasn’t singing along with the rhyme,

“Just got a-oh boy.”

Pidge turned around to see Allura, laden with clipboards and two backpacks, and a smile that she knew betrayed her utter annoyance that she commonly used with stubborn parents.

“2nd verse same as the first.”

That caught Pidge’s attention, turning her head back to follow Shiro, who now was standing by the small group of fifth graders who were practically wiggling in their seats,

“A whole lot louder and a whole lot worse.”

There was a beat of silence, almost deathly quiet.

Shiro slapped his hands onto the table the fifth graders were at, and _shouted,_

“ _You can’t ride in my little red wagon!_ ”

And the kids _screamed_ back.

Oh, did Pidge get it now, all the reactions made sense, and she could _not_ feel any happier than she did now.

So Shiro continued, dramatically stomping his feet or pointing at kids as he rhymed the same words again, all of the kids apparently working together to burst everybody’s eardrums, but changed it so instead they screamed 3rd verse and screamed that it would get a whole lot quieter but still a whole lot worse. Then he started to tip toe, voice barely a whisper as the kids continued to monkey-see-monkey-do, and fifty whispering voices definitely sounded louder than one would think. By now Keith still had his face forcefully shoved into the table, Hunk seemed to be taking the quiet moment for all he could, and Lance still played along with the other kids as Allura checked back through their supplies for a fifth time.

It got interesting as it went on, Shiro was obviously milking the kids energy for all it was worth, leading them in talking like british men, then robots, and Mickey Mouse and was just about to do another verse of screaming when he saw something through the window, and _pouted_ of all things,

“Aw, the bus is here!”

Everybody cheered (yes, even Keith and Allura) save for Shiro, who instead got them to quiet down fairly fast and started talking,

“Alright guys, we had our chance to talk and yell, so voices are off until we line up and get out there, thumbs up if you understand?”

Every thumb possible went up, and Shiro smiled.

“Perfect, line up with your assigned group leader, I need Lance’s group to line up at the door first.”

Eventually they were all lined up, Pidge with her group being the last and completely full of Kindergarteners, and they slowly made their way out and loaded onto the bus. Shiro dutifully checked all the kids and staff on, acting completely opposite to how he’d been just a few minutes ago.

When they started moving and the wind whipped in through the open windows, Pidge leaned across the aisle, calling out to Shiro who occupied the seat across from her.

“How come I’ve never seen that before?”

Shiro blinked and looked up from his work phone, furrowing his eyebrows in thought before they rose in realization. “Oh yeah, we normally do it on the bus. But it was taking longer than I thought, and I figured it’d brighten your mood up a bit.”

Pidge grinned back, eyes glancing back at Keith, hair back in a ponytail to keep the wind from tangling it and probably getting compliments from the third grade girl that asked to sit next to him,

“I’ve never seen Keith so scared, Lance I kind of expected, but Hunk- _Hunk!_ ”

They both laughed together, Shiro getting that same light of mischief in his eyes and leaned a bit closer,

“You want to give it a try?”

Pidge hummed in thought, shooting him a look equal to his own,

“Promise to take my side when I throw popcorn at Matt?”

Shiro wordlessly nodded, and Pidge straightened up in her seat, calling out _Reeeed Robin_ and waited for the corresponding _Yuuuuuum_ before she calmly smiled and spoke over the roar of wind.

“Repeat after me.”

Lance cheered with the kids, Hunk and Allura sighed, Keith hit his head against the bus window, and Shiro laughed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hah what do u mean this is self indulgent and like really late??? impossible


	4. FREE DAY

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Exactly what it says, free day! Do whatever you’d like, start up a new story idea or continue one that’s in the process, or work on an update for your story or Big Bang piece! Maybe even go back to the days you’ve already done and continue them, or get a start on the upcoming ones! You get the final say so do as your heart desires!

It sucked to be reminded that you were depressed. That most days you were fine and dandy and nothing could go wrong, until the tiniest thing does go wrong and it all snowballs and you find yourself crying alone.

That got a bit harder to handle when you were only one of five destined defenders of the universe.

Of course Lance had been in a good emotional swing when he'd left earth and everything happened with the Lions and Voltron and becoming part of a team, and somehow it had maintained itself by sheer force of will. But of course what went up must come down.

That downward swing began on that mission with rescuing Slav, as he had essentially over-shared with that Yupper his deepest insecurity that hadn't hit him until that exact moment, and of course when the first domino got toppled, the rest were sure to follow. Shiro disappearing had only made the feeling worse, because now Keith was leader, fucking Keith, and it only served to make his self-loathing worse and kick start his stupid dissociation again.

_This has got to be a dream. You're gonna wake up and everything will be different and this all isn't real. There's nothing left for you now, because if Keith is leader now what use is it to continue on? Maybe you were never meant to live on past now._

The thoughts were a harsh reminder of his true state of mind and it freaked Lance out to no end but when the others asked if he was okay of course he kept his mouth shut because if they all knew what would they think of him then?

So he tried to keep his Casanova facade up, said stupid shit like always despite the utter lack of confidence he used to have, tried not to get sick at the thought that he was making himself do this alone when there was help right there but he was too afraid to ask for it.

It wasn't long before he knew he began to slip, his smile wasn't as wide, his voice wasn't as chipper, and he could feel the concerned looks the others gave him.

One conversation was all it took for him to break.

" _Quiznak_ Lance! I told you I was fine! What were you thinking?!"

Coran never raised his voice or got upset, the only instance was when Allura had been captured and his ire was aimed at their lost leader, but it was a first for Lance. He'd just been trying to help with the dishes because he was restless from everything swirling around in him and of fucking course when Lance had insisted on helping clean up after another low-morale meal he fucked it up instead.

He stared down at the broken pieces of the plate on the floor, felt the anxiety and panic build in his chest, looking back up at the Altean and tried to speak,

"I-I'm sorry, I was just trying to. . . "

Lance swallowed down the words at the look of tiredness that crossed the thousands of years old face before him, whom let out a frustrated sigh and rubbed a hand at his forehead.

"It's alright, it's been a very rough time, just please listen next time, alright?"

Lance looked back down at the plate, shrugging the tiniest bit and looking for all the entire galaxy like he was a kicked little puppy. An unsettling feeling worked itself into Coran's train of thought, frowning and carefully reaching a hand out to hold Lance by the shoulder,

"No use crying over spilled nunvill, plenty of other plates in storage! It's really nothing to agonize yourself over."

Instead of perking up like he usually did, Lance seemed to make himself look smaller than usual, one of his hands beginning to twitch like he wanted to move it but refused to. Coran slowly realized that something else was wrong, and it wasn't connected to the plate.

"Lance? Is there something else on your mind?"

He'd hoped the gentle tone would encourage the Blue Paladin, but all it did was make him sniff and pull to turn away, his voice wobbling as he spoke,

"No, I'm fine, don't worry about me."

No, there was big reason to worry. Coran finely held on, finally Lance looked up and oh, he’d never seen anybody look so small and miserable, eyes shimmering and tears already making tracks on his cheeks. The Altean then spoke, commanding enough to get him to talk but still sounding gentle and caring,

“You can trust me Lance, please tell me what's wrong.”

Lance gasped on a sob, immediately biting his lip to keep more from coming out, fresh tears springing up and falling rapidly as his breathing became irregular from each deep whine he let out. The poor boy was probably going to hyperventilate at this point, and was likely starting a panic attack and needed one last sign of support. Coran pulled him close, wrapping his arms around the paladin and gently pushing his face into his shoulder, and instantly Lance sagged and let go.

The poor child was nothing but a mess for a few doboshes, bawling into the crook of Coran’s neck and clutching at his back as if he’d fall over if he didn't. Even when the worst of the crying had passed, Lance still wound up hyperventilating and needed some guidance on calming down, and that took even longer to soothe away than the tears had. It took nearly half a varga before he was some semblance of put together again, still taking the odd misplaced breath and eyes redder than Coran had ever seen them, and looked like all Lance wanted to do was curl up and sleep for the rest of space and time.

Thanks to his tired state his tongue had loosened, and the Blue Paladin had opened up on nearly everything. That this wasn't the first time he’d broken down like this, how often it’d happened on his home planet, that each time it happened he’d hidden away, and was adamant that nobody else should know.

Lance was nursing a cup of water when he’d asked Coran not to tell anyone else, eyes fixed down as the water rippled from the way his hands shook still.

“It’s bad enough that you know, I don’t want the others to find out. I don’t even want to think about how Keith would feel if he heard that this kind of happened because of what Shiro decided on.”

That alone spoke volumes about Lance himself, he’d push at Keith’s buttons and rile him up but would never go out of his way to make him feel bad like that, could tell when the teasing turned to insults and that it wasn't justified.

Coran wanted to try and see if he would talk more, but a slow blink and sway of his body showed that his consciousness had finally caught up with his body and desperately need to replenish and rest, so he only nodded and clapped a hand onto the human’s shoulder.

“Of course Number Three, your secret’s safe with me, but I want you to to tell me about things before it gets to this point again.”

He’d given him an incredulous look, opening his mouth to argue but was stopped when Coran waved a hand to dismiss it,

“No no, no more ‘I can do it by myself’, that was then when nobody else knew.”

He squeezed the hand on the boy’s shoulder, giving him a wink and a smile,

“But I’m here now; it’s my purpose to make sure the Paladins are in the best condition possible, which includes their mental state.”

Coran was glad to see Lance accept the help, shyly nodding before bidding the Altean farewell to go get some rest, stopping in the doorway and turning back to him,

“Thanks Coran, I thought if this ever happened it’d be like, major catastrophe.”

“Well, was it?”

Lance smiles and shook his head.

“No, it wasn’t.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lance is my favorite to project Sad Personal Things onto and bless coran okay,,,, b le s s that altean man,,


	5. write a story and insert yourself into it

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I think we can all admit to wanting to join the team in their adventures, so why not indulge ourselves? Write up a story, cliché or not, then throw yourself or an original character into it! Let yourself or your character pilot a Lion and fight alongside the team, become their best friends! Maybe get a little romance involved, you’re the writer! TREAT YOURSELF!

“So how much can you lift?”

Shiro looked up from where he’d been holding up the Gladiator for Pidge to fix, nearly half her body underneath it like a car mechanic, to the person who’d asked him the odd question in the first place. He shrugged, he’d kept track of that sort of stuff back before being captured in space, and that old info was likely untrue now, so he answered back,

“I can’t give a solid answer Lu, sorry.”

The person he’d addressed rolled their eyes, their blue framed glasses falling down their nose, responding back in a bland voice,

“Well that’s a great help Shiro, thanks.”

Lulu was interesting to say the least, they were just barely taller than Pidge by a couple inches, brown hair that curled where it hit their ears, and had somehow been captured by the Galra too, much like everyone on the Kerberos mission had.

They had all tracked down a ship that had logs stating that a human species was onboard, so in the hopes that it was either Matt or Sam, they’d infiltrated and broke out the prisoners on board, but instead found Lulu who had been scared out of their wits and constantly cried as they had escaped. They had only stopped when Shiro had to quickly pick them up and bolt to the door, and he remembers faintly that they had squeaked and clutched on tighter than they needed to.

Shiro rose an eyebrow when he thought about that, watching carefully as he took his turn asking,

“Is this because of when we rescued you?”

Lulu blinked and instantly began to stutter out half answers before going quiet and twirling a lock of hair between their fingers.

“Maybe, okay? Just-oh whatever I’m in space, you can see I’m fat right?”

That took him by surprise, his eyes going up and down their form and taking in their simple hoodie and denim shorts. They only rolled their eyes again when he took too long to reply, their glasses falling down their nose again and were shoved back up by a finger,

“Fat is a descriptor okay, but anyways, it’s been like, years since anyone could easily pick me up and I just couldn't stop thinking about it okay?”

And there was the other interesting part about them, they easily switched between struggling to come up with words to stating things like they’d been asked hundreds of times before.

Hunk suddenly piped up, joining into the conversation as he sat and handed tools to Pidge,

“Aw really? Does someone want to be held?”

Lulu but their lip to hold back the smile and failing as the corners turned up either way.

“Oh my god Hunk, no please.”

The mischief was evident in their voice, slowly creeping away as Hunk simply smiled and stood up, and with an unexpected burst of speed grabbed them around the waist and lifted, easily putting distance between the bottom of their feet and the floor. Lulu instantly squeaked, wiggling around and a light flush started on their cheeks as their smile filled their face,

“ _Hunk oh my god!_ I can’t-”

Lulu dissolved into giggles and snorts, Shiro getting infected by the laughter and smiling himself, and probably would’ve joined in too if he weren’t holding the Gladiator up. Eventually Hunk was merciful and carefully set the other down, Lulu gasping for breath and plopping down on the spot, rubbing at their red cheeks.

“It hurts oh my god, you can’t just go doing that Hunk!”

“Well obviously you enjoyed it!”

Hunk stepped to the side and perfectly avoided the halfhearted swat they had aimed at his leg, more voices making themselves heard,

“Okay, we left for five minutes, what the hell did we miss?”

Everybody glanced up to Lance and Keith who’d just entered the room, laden with the Altean water juice packs they enjoyed, and eyeing everybody. Pidge chose to wiggle out from underneath the Gladiator then, a streak of oil across her cheek as she spoke nonchalantly,

“Lulu was coming to terms with their kink of being lifted by other people.”

It was quiet for half a second before Lulu buried their head in their hands, shoulders shaking as the snorts started up again.

“Don’t- _Don’t kinkshame me!_ ”

They then devolved into what could only be described as a vocal equivalent to keyboard smashing. They managed to get theirself together when Keith and Lance finally walked over, Shiro hoisting the Gladiator up to get a better grip and dragging it back to its containment unit as Pidge eyed Lulu again.

“I’m just stating the facts, you willingly started the conversation and literally ceased to function properly when Hunk picked you up.”

Lulu smiled and shrugged, scooching a bit closer and using their sleeve to wipe at the streak on the Green Paladin’s face, Pidge biting back the complaint she wanted to give and letting the other have their way.

They had all quickly learned that Lulu had a big maternal instinct. They would go on and on about their job working with children on earth and the smile that crossed their face when they happened across alien children was always warm and gentle. They didn't hesitate to use this instinct on the team too, always eager to cook with Hunk, would sit with Lance and talk about their families, was there to help Pidge when issues occurred that the others couldn't fully understand, gave gentle (or not so gentle) reminders to Keith to care for himself, and had even somehow picked up on when Shiro had a bad nights rest and would ask if he needed a break.

“I bet you’re used to being picked up though, so you’ve lost the appeal of it. You’re like, literally the smallest person here.”

Pidge shot them a look that clearly said _no shit Sherlock,_ sticking a tongue out when Lulu continued to tease her,

“I bet I could pick you up,” a look suddenly crossed their face, the teasing tone dropping and being replaced by a soft questioning one, “Wait, can I? I actually want to try, please?”

Pidge sighed and lifted her arms up, Lulu laughing and easily picking her up, everybody else laughing at the bored and tired look on their friends face.

“Okay you’re like, just as heavy as my puppy and she’s just a bit smaller than you, I can’t believe this!” Lulu thankfully didn’t stretch out the holding of Pidge longer than it should’ve, quickly placing her down and turning to Lance.

“Okay I gotta see who else I can pick up, you down Lance?”

Lance immediately dropped his drink and pointed a finger at them, quickly blurting out,

“Not unless I get to run at you and you catch and swing me around!”

Lulu pointed their own fingers at him, grinning wide,

“ _Of course!_ I’ll catch you bro!”

The Blue Paladin quickly stood and ran to the opposite side of the training deck, turning and calling out to them, “ _Someone acapella that music and pretend I’m running in slow motion!_ ” Hunk just barely began to loudly (and wonderfully bad) sing out the referenced song when Lance bolted, Lulu lining up with him and holding their arms out.

Lance decided to _leap_ of all things into the waiting arms, but Lulu still caught him and they spun, both laughing maniacally until they stopped, both stumbling and leaning against each other.

“I think I span too fast, holy,” Lulu collapsed down onto the ground, bumping shoulders with Shiro. They stared up at him, flashing him a giddy smile, ducking their head and giggling even more. He shook his head and smiled down at them, nudging his shoulder against theirs,

“Alright, had your fun yet?”

Lulu hummed in thought, casting their gaze toward Keith who was too focused on his water pouch to hear the conversation. Everybody in that moment decided to collective mess with Keith, quietly waiting as Lulu crept around to surprise Keith from behind, who stayed oblivious until he glanced up and saw everybody staring and raised a questioning eyebrow.

“What are you guys planning?”                          

His own question was answered as Lulu swooped down and wrapped arms around his chest, flailing his limbs around like a cat as he got lugged up. He frowned as he hung there, the imagery of a cat growing more powerful with his look, rolling his eyes as everybody got their laugh in.

“Haha, jokes over, _put me down_.”

Lulu obliged him, getting the last of their snickers out,

“Okay, okay, think I’m good.”

As Lulu took a deep breath, everybody turned to look at Shiro, and in that moment their bond through the Lions had never been more useful.

Shiro stood up, and started to walk off, “I’ve got to find Allura and talk about some things, let’s try not to break the Gladiator again okay?”

Everybody responded with a yes, eyes carefully watching as Lulu finally seemed normal again and idly popped their fingers, not noticing as Shiro changed directions and began to instead quietly approach them from behind. Eventually Lulu realized that it was too quiet, and that the sound of the door opening had never occurred.

“Wait, were my fingers that loud or- _AHHHH!_ ”

Shiro had struck at the perfect opportunity, grabbing their left arm and lowering his body, easily pulling them to rest along his shoulders, and effortlessly stood up straight with the additional weight of a another body, looping his other arm around their legs to hold Lulu steady. Their scream had been high-pitched and entirely unexpected, and now they blinked at Shiro from where their head hung on his left side, hair cascading down and glasses in danger of completely falling off.

He smirked, shrugging and making them move with the motion,

“Sorry, had to see your reaction.”

Lulu flushed _bright_ red, covering their face with their open right hand, and barely squeaked out,

“Please put me down, this is-doing- _oh my god._ ”

He felt them squirming in the hold, and decided to do one more thing before stopping.

“Oh, just like my ‘bobbies’ do things to you?”

Lulu went deathly quiet at that, Shiro not seeing as they peeked an eye out at Lance, who shrugged and made a motion that hopefully said _hard to keep secrets when you have a magic alien space bond_ and sent an apologetic look, so much for the ‘dan shiro’joke.

“Down. Please.”

Shiro finally listened and lowered Lulu back down, who simply laid where they had been left on the floor, flat on their stomach with their arms extended out above their head.

“Leave me to die. Give me that one mercy.”

The next day Shiro purposefully went around without his vest on, just to see Lulu get flustered again and chase after Lance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1.8 k of me and the voltron team, what a good. also pls make sure to check the previous fills, i just went and put them up but i listed them for the appropriate dates so pls dont miss out on more of my writing messes


	6. write with a POV you don’t normally use

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Point of view, most people stick to a set kind and keep it at that, but this is a writing challenge week so why not? Pick a point of view you don’t do or use very often and write with that! Maybe you’ll find it works with a certain scene or character study. You can do this for a new piece or one you already have in the works. Use 1st, 2nd, or 3rd povs, and 3rd has three different kinds; limited, omniscient, and objective.

“Six. Six human souls.”

You blink, continuing to stare up the steep mountainside, at the lone figure perched perfectly at the top. The figure had their back turned to you, staring out across somewhere that you couldn’t quite see.

“Six human souls, and King ALFOR will become a god.”

The figure turned, allowing you the chance to see their helmet just a little better.

“Five. That’s how many we had, before they were stolen. Understand?”

They were completely turned to you now, their ominous presence and piercing eyes boring into you.

“Through your sixth soul, we will finally be able to find the missing five, and this world will be transformed.”

 “First of course, since this is the first time I’ve hunted down a human, I shall tell you the tragic tale of our people. It all started, long ago. . . “

You then realized that oh, this is a backstory monologue, and decided to stop making observations and instead just listen.

There was a stretch of silence, the wind howling by, you being patient and waiting for them to continue, and nearly jumped at what happened next.

“No, you know what?”

Before you could even speak, they began to start yelling, and you could swear intense, dramatic music started up somewhere in the background. You figured this was the true monologue and kept quiet.

“ _SCREW IT!_ WHY SHOULD I TELL _YOU_ THAT STORY WHEN _YOU’RE ABOUT TO DIE!?!_ ”

There was a yell akin to a battle cry then, and a flash of light so blinding you had to squint against it, and within that short amount of time the figure had turned back around, but you could see the lack of a helmet and very prominent purple ears that seemed to be a mix between a cat and a bat. There was a slow turn of the head, and you could see the brief glint of a solid golden eye.

“YOU! You’re standing in the way of everybody’s hopes and dreams!”

The figure you see can now be identified as Keith, the head of the Royal Guard that Lance seemed to fawn about and train under. You curiously point to yourself, just to make sure that he’s talking about you, but he continues on and you’re okay with that.

“Hunk’s history books made me think humans were cool with their giant robots and flowery swordsmen, BUT YOU? You’re just a coward!”

You frowned at that, thinking back to the Ruins and that battle with Coran, how terrified you’d been but had continued on, even when he shattered your heart by accident, but continued to listen.

“Hiding behind that kid so you could run away from me again! And let’s not forget your wimpy goody-two-shoes-shtick! Oooh! I’m making such a difference by hugging random strangers!”

You frowned even more, now that was just plain rude, hugs were very nice, especially when you gave them out to others.

“You know what would be more valuable to everyone? IF YOU WERE DEAD!!!”

That was even ruder than before, how could Lance look up to somebody like this?! Keith smirked and pointed a clawed finger down towards you.

“That’s right! Your continued existence is a crime! Your life is all that stands between us and our freedom! Right now, I can feel everyone’s hearts pounding together! Everyone’s been waiting their whole lives for this moment! But we’re not nervous at all. When everyone puts their hearts together, they can’t lose!”

It really seems like Keith cares for his fellow monsters though, you can give him that at least. His voice carried strong over the mountains, and you could feel the energy radiating from him as he built up his own righteous inner fire. He squints his eyes down at you, and you feel as if you’re pinned to the spot.

“Now, human! Let’s end this, right here, right now. I’ll show you how determined monsters can be! Step forward when you’re ready!”

Keith finished talking then, and you notice that off to the side is another SAVE, so you quickly go over to it and do just that. You hear the wind howling, and feel yourself fill with determination.

You take a breath and step forward.

“That’s it then! No more running away! HERE I COME!!!!!!!”

You have just enough time to glance up and see Keith falling right at you, a sword he hadn’t been holding before now in his grip.

Okay then.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i actually had a lot of fun with this, and consider this a brief look into my planned undertale au for voltron jfdsfrkjas


	7. write an idea opposite to what you normally pick

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everybody has a basic genre of writing they do, fluff, angst, romance, etc. . . well it’s time to jump out of the comfort zone. If you normally write fluff, write angst. If you normally write AU’s, write in the original setting. Pick the opposite of the norm and go with it! Don’t knock it until you try it. This one obviously has to be a new piece of work!

Something seemed off. Kind of like there was something he was forgetting, but all Shiro could focus on was finding some people. The hazy faces he was pulling up didn’t provide him with much to go off of, but it was clear that he needed to find them and _take them out._

He was having trouble walking too, it seemed as if the purple-lit hallway he was going through was tipping side to side, tossing him left and right and up against each wall. Each time he hit the wall it rang out and made his head throb.

A flash at the end of the hallway caught his eye, and suddenly everything seemed to hyper focus on that alone. The blur of white and green was a stark contrast to the overwhelming purple environment, and something seemed to click in his head and Shiro was running.

He turned the corner and saw that same blur duck into a room, and he continued to follow, although this wasn’t the best strategy to capture and eliminate his target. That much the arenas had taught him, to quiet your steps and make as little noise as possible to catch your enemy by surprise. His heavy footsteps were echoing loud against the metal, along with the other set of feet he was following, and was constantly letting not only the one being chased, but everyone else where he was that he was hunting down. There were four in total, all somewhere on this ship, and he _had_ to find them all.

Eventually the chase led them to an open area, likely some sort of hangar, the size of this ship was lost on Shiro, especially when his eyes were drawn to the body that stood in the middle, their head frantically turning every which way in an effort to find a way out.

**_That can’t happen._ **

When their back was turned, Shiro finally remembered to take those quiet steps that he should’ve done earlier, and things finally began to focus in his foggy vision.

The fine details of the white and green armor before him became clear, could see every scratch and dent in it, it was thick and likely wouldn’t be pierced by his weapon, so he’d have to strike where those patches of black were. Shiro didn’t have much more time, and he still had the other three to get.

The figure had been calling out, likely over a comm system hooked up in the helmet wore, but their hurried talking was cut off when Shiro wrapped his right arm around their throat. They immediately started to thrash around as he pulled the arm tight, their head nearly smashing directly into his face, and there was a shrill scream that echoed through the space before he twitched his arm and the scream was replaced with a **_crack_**. The only sound that followed after was the dull _thud_ as the body fell. He looked down at the blank face that stared up at him, empty hazel eyes boring through him. For a brief moment there was a pang of _something_ in his chest, a sense of _wrong,_ but it was lost as he felt himself get tackled from behind.

Instantly he reacted, throwing the attacker over his shoulder and feel something glance off his armor, eyes tracking as he focused on the next target. Shiro was able to catch a glimpse of red before the body leaped at him again, a sword aimed straight for his chest and he automatically sidestepped it, the mental switch on his arm flipping and he felt the quintessence pool within the metal, and his arm pierced through the stretch of black below the white chest armor. The wet squelch and sizzle of the arm going completely through was accompanied with two echoing screams, and Shiro could see as the dark purple eyes stared at him in shock before losing all sense of life within. He pulled his arm out and the body collapsed on top of the first, two sets of lifeless eyes staring up and beyond.

Shiro could sense the other two living bodies behind him, turning his head and noticing blue and yellow among the white, stock still and likely in shock from seeing the other two fall. He had to act fast to finish them before they recovered and ran, and decided to aim for the yellow one next.

It was far too easy to take yellow out, Shiro had faintly heard pleas and begs and seen watery brown eyes but those turned to garbles and eventually silence as his arm turned on again and stabbed through the stomach, twisting up and wrenching around and grabbing hold of something and _pulling_. The body crashes down and there’s a wet _slap_ as the gut he’d pulled out hit the ground, and he heard something materialize and glanced up to see blue holding some sort of weapon at him.

Shiro began to stalk over, could hear the _don’t make me do this_ and _I know you’re in there_ that was being shouted at him, but that didn’t mean anything to him. Once he was close enough he grabbed the weapon, some sort of rifle, and pushed it back so the front was pressed right to their jugular. Dark blue eyes bore into him and there was one last _please_ before the trigger pulled and the visor hiding the eyes turned dark red. It joined the rest of the bodies on the floor, and he took one last glance about at his kills.

The fog lifted. Shiro screamed as he saw the carcasses of his team surrounding him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and here is the last prompt fill!! fun death and gore.
> 
> one last shout out to everyone who participated for this week!!! it was mainly on discord and shared through the 2017 klance bb but i was so excited seeing everybody else get into the prompts and writing new things and really challenging themselves!!!!
> 
> i would love to do a more widespread one someday! probably stretch it out to more fandoms too if possible. thanks to everyone who read and commented!!!!!!


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